Whether the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the United Nations intended to make it sound light hearted, attempting to warn us or just not thinking, I don’t know but some people were appalled at their announcement on Dec 31st 2015 of: most checked out book of 2015.

What was our most popular book of 2015? Find it in our library catalogue! https://t.co/hmfeCmGKCj (UN only) pic.twitter.com/niGXUxHtGt
— UN Library (@UNLibrary) December 31, 2015

*Drum roll please*

Dun dun dun…

Ramona Pedretti’s doctoral thesis titled ‘Immunity of Heads of State and State Officials for International Crimes’

😮

Wait, were we really that surprised?

I’m glad they announced it though, despite not liking the content of the message.

Shortly after and as usual for most political organizations and contracts, the announcement was revised. They had meant the most popular ‘new’ book of 2015 and the actual most borrowed book was Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography. Such a contrast of reading material! And such a convenient choice (no disrespect to Ms Yousafzai at all, cynicism aimed at Public Relations and the ‘I Am’ ethos). So basically out of the number of active borrowers (don’t know how many in total) their reading choice is polarized but that’s not controversial, we should/do need to know about what master manipulators and abusers of power and so-called ‘authority’ are interested in. I wonder what the Top 20 list is, over various timeframes – and since there’s no such thing as individual privacy anymore it’d be interesting to know what major public figures are borrowing, ironically I don’t see why they can’t just buy an e-copy (if they want to be paperless) of ‘I am Malala: The Girl who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban’ (2013) – it’s much easier to find and far cheaper than the one implying how to get away with murder (and everything before that) which is priced at €179/$232 on brill.com. But then again, how often do they even read in comparison to getting someone else/groups to do it for them and sign away after quick perusal?

For those of us without expense accounts or access to professional and relevant libraries it’s not one we’re likely to read but bear in mind the subject of foreign/international immunity for VIPs as representatives of organizations/corporations is not a new one, this isn’t the only book or paper available.